First Predictions: Best Animated Feature
Wednesday, June 10, 2026 at 1:11PM
NATHANIEL R in Best Animated Feature, Iron Boy, Oscars (26), Pixar, Punditry, animated films

by Nathaniel R

JIM QUEEN is a French gay adult animated comedy about a virus that turns gay men into heterosexuals. It premiered at Cannes.

Every year I hope to become more of a voracious viewer of animated films. There's so much happening around the world in animation but international animation (beyond some films from Japan) rarely hits US movie theaters or stays for a long enough time to build a fanbase. The animation year started out unexpectedly strong with more animated films premiering at Cannes than is usually the case. And Annecy, the annual summer animation festival, is just around the corner -- we'll be reviewing a few titles from Annecy for the very first time -- though sadly we're not travelling TO the festival but responding to screeners. While we would love for the Best Animated Feature race to be a truly competitive international free-for-all each year, the stats suggest that it's always Disney's to lose. More accurately it's always Disney/Pixar's to lose (or at least it was until the 2020s) even if the selected nominees each year paint a broader picture of the artform...

Here are stills from a few of the films premiering at Cannes and/or playing at Annecy.

IN WAVES, another French animated film, also premiered at Cannes and was picked up for distribution by Netflix. LUCY LOST, also from France, is an adventure about a fisherman's son and a mysterious girl rescued at sea. It premiered at Cannes and will also play AnnecyTANGLES, an animated film about Alzheimers based on a graphic novel, won raves at Cannes. US Distribution has yet to be determined.

STATS AND TRIVIA

The Best Animated Feature category is now entering its 26th year and here are some stats worth considering and/or raging against.

The Mouse House has won 60% of all races, though that stat is mostly due to their purchase of Pixar and Pixar's incredible dominance for the first two decades of the category. Pixar has lost the last five Oscar seasons so the times are changing. 

WINNING ANIMATION STUDIOS...

No other animation studio has won more than a single Oscar and, unfortunately, two absolutely brilliant houses,  Laika (6 nominations) and Cartoon Saloon (4 nominations), have yet to win even though they've been nominated for all or all but one of their features, respectively. 

WINNING "TYPES" OF ANIMATION

Sadly voters typically reject traditional animation unless it comes from Studio Ghibli. While several hand-drawn features have been nominated over the years, Miyazaki is the only winner in terms of traditional hand-drawn animation.

INTERNATIONAL?

While there is generally one non-US film nominated in any given season, the Academy would do well to pay more attention to the international animation scene. The vast majority of animated films from countries that are not predominantly English-language focused are ignored. Voters do occassionally notice films from Japan (7.5 nominees with 2 wins) and France (9.5 nominees with 0 wins) -- the .5 in those stats is the Japanese/French co-production The Red Turtle.  But beyond those two countries only Brazil (Boy and The World), Denmark (Flee), Latvia (Flow), and Spain (Chico & Rita) have had films nominated here.

ANOMALIES / OUTLIERS

 

 

OKAY, ENOUGH STALLING. HERE IS THE FIRST ROUND OF PREDICTIONS FOR BEST ANIMATED FEATURE. -- SEE THE FULL PREDICTION LIST (THUS FAR) HERE.

Article originally appeared on The Film Experience (http://thefilmexperience.net/).
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